In many applications, it is desirable to know the characteristics of an unknown source of power. For example, a device may need to know the amount of power available from an unknown power supply so it can determine whether the power is sufficient to operate the device and/or to adjust the operating characteristics of the device so that the operational configuration of the device corresponds to the characteristics of the power source.
As an example of the aforementioned problem, next generation access points (APs) are expected to draw more power than the 13 W allowed by the International Electrical and Electronic Engineer's (IEEE) 802.3 specification. Accordingly, a new midspan power injector is being developed to provide this extra power.